2012 stories that didn’t make the news

Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 7:15 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 7:15 a.m.

Shootings, breweries, elections, sheriffs, lawyers and the Flat Rock Playhouse all made news in 2012. But some events perhaps didn’t get the ink they deserved.

Here’s my offering of local stories that stayed under the radar...until now.

(1) Alcohol sales. Before the May 8 referendum, all major grocery stores in the county except the one in Etowah were located within a municipality that allowed beer and wine sales. A side story of the referendum was that only one voting precinct out of 35 voted against alcohol sales. Tuxedo was the holdout. That notwithstanding, there is a store in Tuxedo that now carries adult beverages.

(2) Atlanta Bread. Restaurants open and close in Hendersonville all the time, but few that fold are major chains. These guys do extensive market research and they are not supposed to get it wrong. Atlanta Bread has seen half of its stores close in recent years while its rival Panera Bread remains strong. So what went wrong here? Perhaps Atlanta Bread and Wal-Mart were not a good fit. Chain restaurants need to be seen from the highway and have easy access. That could have been the difference.

(3) Sierra Nevada’s secret. When Sierra Nevada’s site selection team came to town, it put us all under a microscope. One item on its checklist was a visit to the local wastewater treatment plant. According to the site consultants, because these facilities are usually out of sight, this is where many cities “hide their junk.”

Hendersonville’s showcase sewer plant passed that test. Its plant may never receive Sierra Nevada’s discharge, but we can speculate that it gave us an edge in getting the brewery. Cheers.

(4) Arnold Palmer. We all remember when Arnie flew into town in 2007 for the Seven Falls golf course groundbreaking. It comes as no surprise that Palmer’s design people in Orlando have taken a “no comment” position on events that made news in 2012. You are a sweet guy, Arnie, but it needs to be said that the Arnold Palmer Design Co., which boasts 300 signature courses around the globe, should have done a better job vetting the developers and others who poisoned the well. Until just last month, Palmer Design had listed Seven Falls on its promotional Web site. Shameless.

(5) The carousel. With little fanfare, Smiley’s Flea Market added a 30-horse carousel in October. This may well be the first permanent carousel in the county. Kids can ride for just a buck. The flea market had some bad press in March, but it has bounced back and the carousel is a nice touch. Now in its 29th year, Smiley’s has grown so big that it has its own traffic light, and next-door parking lot entrepreneurs are selling spaces for $5. Shades of the Apple Festival.

(6) Foreclosures. They command a lot of space in the legal section of the paper, but are foreclosures in Henderson County up or down?

They’re down (kind of). In 2010, we had 670 civil cases with a home or business foreclosure filing. That was an all-time high. In 2012, there were 540 property foreclosure filings in Henderson County, only 11 fewer than in 2011. Surprisingly, statewide there was virtually no change, either.

(7) Secession. The Obama admin-istration runs a program from its White House website where if enough people support an issue via an online petition, the president’s staff will review it and issue an official response. At the end of 2012, the White House received 32,000 electronic signatures for a petition for North Carolina to “peacefully withdraw from the U.S.” Far-fetched?

Yes, but secession is not new for our county.

You see, according to historians, in 1800 some 50 rebellious families petitioned Congress to be returned to South Carolina. They were living in a large part of what is now Henderson and Transylvania counties called the “Orphan Strip.” This land, once Cherokee territory, was claimed by both South Carolina and Georgia. The feuding ended in 1838 after state boundary lines were set and Henderson County got its charter. So why didn’t we end up in South Carolina? It seems that we were not wanted. This area was once thought to be a haven for outlaws.

(8) Lottery blues. Lottery ticket buyers in Henderson County on the average spend $1.85 to win $1, or about the state average. Buncombe County players are among the luckiest, spending only 89 cents to win a buck. What’s puzzling is that in fiscal year 2012, local lottery ticket sales went up 20 percent from the previous year, prizes for winning tickets bought here increased 5 percent, but revenue allotted to Henderson County ($3,836,252) dropped by $2.1 million. It’s complicated.

(9) Lonesome highway. Last spring, with little fanfare, the orange barrels were taken up on the U.S. 25 connector. The project to widen to four lanes 2.8 miles of U.S.

25 from Zirconia to I-26 was finally completed. Truckers rejoiced. The $16 million construction phase began in 2009, but the project had been on the books for 31 years.

Why so long? The connector was a unique project that called for all federal money, but the devil is in the funding distribution formulas. The NCDOT didn’t want the connector to bump other priority road projects, hence a standoff with the feds. After years of wrangling, our legislators got the connector properly funded without jeopardizing other highway jobs. Happy motoring.

Matt Matteson was the Henderson County planning director from 1989 to 1999. He resides in Horse Shoe.

<p>Shootings, breweries, elections, sheriffs, lawyers and the Flat Rock Playhouse all made news in 2012. But some events perhaps didn't get the ink they deserved.</p><p>Here's my offering of local stories that stayed under the radar...until now.</p><p>(1) Alcohol sales. Before the May 8 referendum, all major grocery stores in the county except the one in Etowah were located within a municipality that allowed beer and wine sales. A side story of the referendum was that only one voting precinct out of 35 voted against alcohol sales. Tuxedo was the holdout. That notwithstanding, there is a store in Tuxedo that now carries adult beverages.</p><p>(2) Atlanta Bread. Restaurants open and close in Hendersonville all the time, but few that fold are major chains. These guys do extensive market research and they are not supposed to get it wrong. Atlanta Bread has seen half of its stores close in recent years while its rival Panera Bread remains strong. So what went wrong here? Perhaps Atlanta Bread and Wal-Mart were not a good fit. Chain restaurants need to be seen from the highway and have easy access. That could have been the difference.</p><p>(3) Sierra Nevada's secret. When Sierra Nevada's site selection team came to town, it put us all under a microscope. One item on its checklist was a visit to the local wastewater treatment plant. According to the site consultants, because these facilities are usually out of sight, this is where many cities “hide their junk.”</p><p>Hendersonville's showcase sewer plant passed that test. Its plant may never receive Sierra Nevada's discharge, but we can speculate that it gave us an edge in getting the brewery. Cheers.</p><p>(4) Arnold Palmer. We all remember when Arnie flew into town in 2007 for the Seven Falls golf course groundbreaking. It comes as no surprise that Palmer's design people in Orlando have taken a “no comment” position on events that made news in 2012. You are a sweet guy, Arnie, but it needs to be said that the Arnold Palmer Design Co., which boasts 300 signature courses around the globe, should have done a better job vetting the developers and others who poisoned the well. Until just last month, Palmer Design had listed Seven Falls on its promotional Web site. Shameless.</p><p>(5) The carousel. With little fanfare, Smiley's Flea Market added a 30-horse carousel in October. This may well be the first permanent carousel in the county. Kids can ride for just a buck. The flea market had some bad press in March, but it has bounced back and the carousel is a nice touch. Now in its 29th year, Smiley's has grown so big that it has its own traffic light, and next-door parking lot entrepreneurs are selling spaces for $5. Shades of the Apple Festival.</p><p>(6) Foreclosures. They command a lot of space in the legal section of the paper, but are foreclosures in Henderson County up or down?</p><p>They're down (kind of). In 2010, we had 670 civil cases with a home or business foreclosure filing. That was an all-time high. In 2012, there were 540 property foreclosure filings in Henderson County, only 11 fewer than in 2011. Surprisingly, statewide there was virtually no change, either.</p><p>(7) Secession. The Obama admin-istration runs a program from its White House website where if enough people support an issue via an online petition, the president's staff will review it and issue an official response. At the end of 2012, the White House received 32,000 electronic signatures for a petition for North Carolina to “peacefully withdraw from the U.S.” Far-fetched?</p><p>Yes, but secession is not new for our county.</p><p>You see, according to historians, in 1800 some 50 rebellious families petitioned Congress to be returned to South Carolina. They were living in a large part of what is now Henderson and Transylvania counties called the “Orphan Strip.” This land, once Cherokee territory, was claimed by both South Carolina and Georgia. The feuding ended in 1838 after state boundary lines were set and Henderson County got its charter. So why didn't we end up in South Carolina? It seems that we were not wanted. This area was once thought to be a haven for outlaws.</p><p>(8) Lottery blues. Lottery ticket buyers in Henderson County on the average spend $1.85 to win $1, or about the state average. Buncombe County players are among the luckiest, spending only 89 cents to win a buck. What's puzzling is that in fiscal year 2012, local lottery ticket sales went up 20 percent from the previous year, prizes for winning tickets bought here increased 5 percent, but revenue allotted to Henderson County ($3,836,252) dropped by $2.1 million. It's complicated.</p><p>(9) Lonesome highway. Last spring, with little fanfare, the orange barrels were taken up on the U.S. 25 connector. The project to widen to four lanes 2.8 miles of U.S.</p><p>25 from Zirconia to I-26 was finally completed. Truckers rejoiced. The $16 million construction phase began in 2009, but the project had been on the books for 31 years.</p><p>Why so long? The connector was a unique project that called for all federal money, but the devil is in the funding distribution formulas. The NCDOT didn't want the connector to bump other priority road projects, hence a standoff with the feds. After years of wrangling, our legislators got the connector properly funded without jeopardizing other highway jobs. Happy motoring. </p><p>Matt Matteson was the Henderson County planning director from 1989 to 1999. He resides in Horse Shoe.</p>